Artists in the Photo League, active from 1936 to 1951, were known for capturing sharply revealing, compelling moments from everyday life. Their focus centered on New York City and its vibrant streets—a newsboy at work, a brass band on a bustling corner, a crowded beach at Coney Island. Though beautiful, the images harbor strong social commentary on issues of class, child labor, and opportunity. The Radical Camera explores the fascinating blend of aesthetics and social activism at the heart of the Photo League, tracing the group's left-leaning roots and idealism to the worker-photography movement in Europe. Influenced by mentors Lewis Hine, Berenice Abbott, and Paul Strand, artists in the Photo League worked within a unique complex comprising a school, a darkroom, a gallery, and a salon, in which photography was discussed as both a means for social change and an art form. The influence of the Photo League artists on modern photography was enormous, ushering in the New York School.
Presenting 150 works of the members of the Photo League alongside complementary essays that offer new interpretations of the League's work, ideas, and pedagogy, this beautifully illustrated book features artists including Margaret Bourke-White, Sid Grossman, Morris Engel, Lisette Model, Ruth Orkin, Walter Rosenblum, Aaron Siskind, W. Eugene Smith, and Weegee, among many others.
At a time in global history when connection with others has been tested from two years of separations and quarantining, Erica Reade's photographs resonate well beyond the beach atmosphere of the image settings. Her black and white photos are focused on intimacy and physical connections between couples at beaches in New York. She focused particularly on the Rockaways, Fort Tilden and Coney Island, and has called this project "an NYC summer love story." Expressions of love and sensuality are made visible in these nostalgic black and white photographs.
June' 22 sees the launch of a new colour, 68 page photographic coffee table book by British photographer - Rankin- An Exploding World that highlights the importance of creativity as a tool for mental well being.
The New York City subway system shuttles many of the over 8 million NYC residents from here, to there, and photographer Ed Hotchkiss journeyed on every line, criss-crossing the city and its boroughs, discovering and noticing. The subway cars gather and hold for a finite amount of time a seemingly random group of people, all with their own unique lives, hopes, and plans, and who each disperse and disappear upon exiting the train. This setting provides a unique opportunity to observe the vast array of humanity that signifies New York. These images reflect the value Ed saw in what he found.
Nearly half a century after he left his native Tanzania, Pradip Malde returned with a large-format camera to document the lives of women affected by female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C). With Sarah Mwaga, founder of the Anti Female Genital Mutilation Network (AFNET), he traveled more than 3,000 miles over three years, visiting remote communities to converse with and photograph activist women —victims of FGM and former ngariba (Swahili for “circumcisers”)—, the sacred sites where these rituals take place, and the cutting tools used by ngariba who have renounced the practice.
Nancy A. Scherl's color photographs of people dining alone evoke a certain curiosity. What are the individuals thinking? What are they observing as they eat their meals and watch fellow diners? Is this a favorite pastime to collect their own thoughts, or are they waiting for someone, or are they lonely? The viewer does not know their stories, though they have them, everyone does.
Film photography is back with a bang, and whether you're returning to the genre after switching to digital, or you've just discovered this amazing medium, there's never been a more compelling argument for going analogue with your photography
KINGS ROAD by MONA KUHN, published by Steidl,is out now available from all good book stores. The exhibition is at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum in Santa Barbara, California, USA until May
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